(DET and CBJ are wild card teams, but the records broke perfectly to avoid any crossover matchups)

Tampa Bay and Montreal will be the other series, with the winner facing the BOS-DET winner

Montreal does not play today. If Tampa (@WAS) wins in any fashion today, they will take 2nd in the division and gain home ice advantage. Any TB loss gives that to MTL (a TB OT loss ties the teams at 100 pts, MTL wins the ROW tiebreaker 40-38)

Western Conference

Matchups we know:

Anaheim v Dallas (Wild Card 2)San Jose v Los Angeles

Central Division matchups we don't really know because the division title is still in question between St. Louis and Colorado. Both teams have 111 points, Colorado has the ROW tiebreaker 47-43

Methinks the lovely Admin who greenlighted this doesn't know much about hockey, or at least fairly recent hockey anyway...

I haven't decided if I want to shave the winter beard off & start again or just take it down to a #1 also. Probably will stick with it & go for the wildman look (should also trim my hair today too, it's a long time until June...).

I'm actually a little concerned about this first round. My beloved Ducks for some reason have a tough time with Dallas. Then again drawing the Wild with a freshly rejuvenated Briz minding the pipes & probably wanting to do really well against his old team could be really dangerous as well. Then again, the entire West is pretty much a lethal toss up this year, if the Wild win in regulation today then 7 out of 8 of the teams will finish with 100 points or more. I wonder if there has ever been such a strong (point wise) conference going into the playoffs. Whatever it is though, it's going to be one hell of a ride over the next few weeks.

Time to flip on the Blues/Wings game, I wonder if any of the old time rivalry still exists or if it's just going to be a soft, exhibition type game today. We'll see.

/hi to all the hockey regulars staggering in after coming out of hibernation, time to wake up for the real hockey season...

Yep, today. Last day of the season starts no-shave. Took mine to a #1 with my Braun yesterday. Hope Wings/Blues turns into a game and not Stars-on-Ice. Will flip over to Bolts/Caps when the puck drops. If Bolts win, gives them home Ice over Habs.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNINGThe Lightning would clinch the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage in a first-round matchup against Montreal if they beat the Washington Capitals in any fashion.

IF THE PLAYOFFS STARTED TODAY ...

MONTREAL CANADIENS

The Canadiens (idle) would clinch the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage in a first-round matchup against Tampa Bay if the Lightning lose to the Washington Capitals in regulation, overtime or a shootout.

The Avalanche would clinch the Central Division title and play the Wild in the first round if they defeat the Anaheim Ducks in any fashion OR if they lose to the Ducks in overtime or a shootout AND the Blues fail to get two points against the Detroit Red Wings OR if the Blues lose in regulation.

ST. LOUIS BLUES

The Blues would clinch the Central Division title and play the Wild in the first round if they defeat the Red Wings in any fashion AND the Avalanche lose to the Ducks in any fashion OR if the Blues lose to the Red Wings in overtime or a shootout AND the Avalanche lose to the Ducks in regulation.--------------------------------------------------------------------- - --------------------------------------------------------

The eight teams in the Western Conference that clinched postseason berths are: St. Louis Blues, Anaheim Ducks, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars. In the West, Anaheim will play Dallas in the first round and San Jose will play Los Angeles. The Central Division winner (either Colorado or St. Louis) will face Minnesota and the second-place finisher in the Central will face Chicago.

As has been the case since 1979-80, 16 teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This season, however, the format is a set bracket that is largely division-based with wild cards.

The top three teams in each division will make up the first 12 teams in the playoffs. The remaining four spots will be filled by the next two highest-placed finishers in each conference, based on regular-season record and regardless of division. It is possible for one division in each conference to send five teams to the postseason while the other sends just three.

In the First Round, the division winner with the best record in each conference will be matched against the wild-card team with the lesser record; the wild card team with the better record will play the other division winner.

The teams finishing second and third in each division will meet in the First Round within the bracket headed by their respective division winners. First-round winners within each bracket play one another in the Second Round to determine the four participants in the Conference Finals.

Home-ice advantage through the first two rounds goes to the team that placed higher in the regular-season standings. In the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final, home-ice advantage goes to the team that had the better regular-season record -- regardless of the teams' final standing in their respective divisions.

ytterbium:Red Wings, decimated by injuries: pull off a minor miracle and get into the playoffs.

We always rely on depth of lines and extensive scouting, which saved us our streak. Last year was fourteen games of playoff experience, and this year will be more practice, but the coming two years at least will be strong enough to avoid miracles or fortune, injuries or otherwise.

wxboy:Ryan Miller looked really bad on that last goal, even if he was screened.

You can take Miller out of Buffalo, but you can't take the Buffalo out of Miller. His impending failure against Chicago (or even whichever wild card team they play if they win) will be astounding to watch.

Polish Hussar:I'm pretty disappointed that the Wings dropped the last home game against Carolina. I really wanted us to play the Penguins in the first round.

I think I prefer our changes against the Bruins with a healed Wings. Plus, this setup gives me a better chance of seeing Red Wings playoff games in Tampa Bay than hoping for conference finals. The one aggravation is I do not see a major challenge to the Penguins in the first or second round, and thus, if we or Lightning progress to semifinals, I fear facing a Pittsburgh which has had four or five game rounds and plenty of rest; no offense to the other teams, but I think Penguins will edge out some early victories because the current team has had extensive playoff experience.

Vangor:ytterbium: Red Wings, decimated by injuries: pull off a minor miracle and get into the playoffs.

We always rely on depth of lines and extensive scouting, which saved us our streak. Last year was fourteen games of playoff experience, and this year will be more practice, but the coming two years at least will be strong enough to avoid miracles or fortune, injuries or otherwise.

The Griffins are my closest pro team (well, K-Wings too), so I've seen some games live and follow the team.

They mirror the Wings system and the team plays as if they're going to get called up. Obviously, this has worked well for Detroit.